Moving toward fulfillment of promises made earlier this year by its top civilian and military leaders, the U.S. Air Force has announced firm plans to increase nuclear force manning at Air Force Global Strike Command missile and bomber wings beginning this fall.

“The Air Force will plus-up nuclear enterprise manning levels by hundreds of positions at select bases, with the first wave of airmen expected to arrive through the next few assignment cycles,” according to a release from the office of the Secretary of the Air Force.

As outlined by Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James, the manning plus-up is part of a broader series of measures and incentives designed to improve the culture and mission effectiveness of the service’s nuclear force.

“We’ve been saying that the nuclear enterprise is the number one mission, and the Air Force is putting its money where its mouth is,” she said. “We must show airmen that there’s value in this mission by making the appropriate investments in people, weapon systems and infrastructure. The Air Force has worked and will continue to work to identify and rearrange funds to make important improvements within our missile and bomber forces.”

The changes are designed to empower airmen and ensure they have the resources they need for this priority mission, said Lt. Gen. Stephen Wilson, commander of Air Force Global Strike Command, headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base.

“We have great airmen serving on our team and we owe it to them to make things better,” he said. “It’s important to recognize that we are just at the beginning of this process. Raising manning levels is one in a series of immediate changes.”

Most of the increased staffing will be at bases with nuclear missile wings. The increase in nuclear force manpower by installation is as follows:

Barksdale: The 2nd Bomb Wing will gain 31 positions, filling jobs primarily in areas such as maintenance and munitions.

F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo.: The 90th Missile Wing and 20th Air Force will gain 242 positions to improve manning primarily in the operations, maintenance and security forces career fields.

Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont.: The 341st Missile Wing will gain 216 positions to improve manning primarily in the operations, maintenance and security forces career fields.

Minot Air Force Base, N.D.: Minot will gain 303 positions. The 5th Bomb Wing host unit is expected to increase by 69 positions in areas including operations and maintenance. The 91st Missile Wing will grow by 234 positions. Those airmen will primarily serve in jobs such as operations, maintenance and security forces.